gdgt

So I turned on my Kindle 2 for the first time since the iPad launch (hey, it's been a busy week!), and I have to say, the sheen hasn't been dulled. Yeah, the industrial design is still a little haphazard for my tastes, I still really dislike the directional stick, and the screen feels feels as small and limiting as ever.

But damn it, E Ink still has the look and eye-feel of paper, and after spending the last few decades reading and working on a computer, I feel pretty confident that iPad isn't going to take the place of reading real books or reading on E Ink based devices. (At least not until the iPad gets a display that is as comfortable on the eyes to read as E Ink is.) That isn't to say the iPad won't be a success (for more on that, see gdgt weekly 071: http://features.gdgt.com/2010/01/30/gdgt-weekly-071/ ). But the best device for reading books, the iPad is definitely not -- iBooks or no iBooks.


Another thing I picked up today was the December 2009 issue of Newsweek. (Yeah, Veronica and I are subscribers of the paper edition.) In it there's an interview with Jeff Bezos that, obviously, came pre-iPad; but it's pretty telling stuff, and I can't say I disagree with what Jeff is laying down. Check it out:

Q: So an Apple tablet would be a companion to the Kindle?
A: Absolutely. We've got Kindle for PC. And we're working on Kindle for the Mac. Our vision is that we want you to be able to read Kindle books wherever you want to read your Kindle books.

Q: Ultimately do you not even care about selling the physical Kindle itself?
A: No, we do care. Our goal with the Kindle device is separate from the Kindle bookstore. ***With the Kindle bookstore, wherever you want to read we're going to support you. And then for the Kindle device, we want that to be the world's best purpose-built reading device. It's not a Swiss Army knife. It's not going to do a bunch of different things. We believe that reading deserves a dedicated device, and we want Kindle to be that device.*** [Emphasis mine.] It's like a digital camera. I like having the digital camera on my smart phone, but I also like having a dedicated camera for when I want to take real pictures.

From: http://www.newsweek.com/id/227751

Ryan, I agree with you. I'm not a Kindle owner, but I really see the utility of a dedicated device. In a world of do-it-all products, it's actually refreshing to see something succeed that's devoted to one purpose: reading. I think the market for the Kindle will remain strong, even post-iPad release. Good post!

I may be in the minority here but what I like about the Kindle 2 is it's a distraction free device. It has a single purpose and it does that well. Putting Twitter or any sort of social app on the Kindle 2 is not what I am looking for in a reading device.

About the only thing I see missing from the Kindle 2 is a crossword app or a comic strip app.

Absolutely. E Ink still will provide a superior experience for reading books. I actually first experienced Kindle books via the Kindle iPhone application. I read some books with it but really only did so in a piecemeal fashion - standing in line at the store or sitting on a train. However, I couldn't really imagine sitting for hours at a time reading a book with it. I got a Kindle and knew I'd made the right call for deep reading. Now my Kindle integrates seamlessly with my iPhone Kindle app so I can read a bit while I wait for a coffee or whatever and pick up where I left off when I get home. In my mind, that was Amazon's aim. However, I'm not sure how the iPad fits into this ecosystem because of it's size.

Agree 100%. I picked up a nook last weekend and haven't put it down. I can look at that screen for hours, no strain. I used to think I could look at a computer screen for that long with no problem, until I experienced looking at eInk for hours. While I think the iPad might be a neat device, I will be keeping my nook.

I would love to see apps come to the nook, as it is running android afterall, but I also agree with rgersmrk that the lack of distraction on the dedicated ereader is a really nice change from the barrage of emails, tweets, facebook updates, and new google reader items I'm normally chasing.

The announcement of the iPad made me want a kindle (or nook) more. The iPad is too expensive just for reading and I already have a netbook. The thing that the iPad can do would be comic books and magazines but its still too expensive for those things.

I agree with the sentiments of this thread. The evening of the iPad announcement I had some concern if I had made the right choice in going with the Kindle a few weeks prior, knowing it was likely to happen. I loved my Kindle2 before the announcement, but I began to worry that the iBook store would kill off the Kindle store or that I would not be able to get content. So I picked up my Kindle and got sucked right back into the reading experience. Like others here, I will keep my Kindle/dedicated book reader and say no thanks to the iPad as my primary reading device.

I think the dedicated e-reader will still exist, but it's going to have to be at a lower price point than the iPad. The Kindle DX is going to have tough sledding ahead at price parity to the iPad.

I think so. Yes. Apple doesn't own THAT much of the market ;)

As someone who owns and uses a Sony E-Reader, I am sceptical about the future of e-ink devices.
E-ink is just too slow to be usable. If your only use for a reader is reading a novel, then the slow page turns are less important. But trying to rapidly navigate a text-book - or skim reading is just too frustrating. The sluggish nature of the screen limits the device to just one style of reading.

An LCD device not only brings color, but speed and flexibility.

Certainly, the readability of e-ink's frontlit dark-grey-on-light-grey is fine. Not as good as paper but not bad.
But I spend every working day reading from backlit LCD screens. Far more time than I spend reading from paper.

The idea that LCD is "less readable" is clearly nonsense.

C.

I think ebook readers will survive, but I can't imagine myself buying one now. A month ago, I was ready to buy a Kindle. Now I'm really glad I didn't.